An addition to the BHT, a passage in which Paul talks about coming to know Christ directly within one’s Self, which is the resurrection. (The painting above is “Saint Paul Writing His Epistles,” attributed to Valentin de Boulogne, dated 1618-1620.)
7 Whatever things I gained in the world, any advantages and wealth, all of that I now realize is utterly worthless since I gained Christ.
8 Yes, indeed! All of it! And everything else, I now realize is wholly and entirely empty in comparison to the absolute awesomeness of the direct experiential knowing of Christ, my True Self. For this I have suffered the loss of all things, everything, and I consider it all as nothingness, now that I’ve gained Christ,
9 finding my Self in Christ, and being One. I’m no longer self-righteous in the law, trying to be perfectly virtuous in obedience to rules and regulations, but rather through this direct assurance and certainty of Christ in Me I have found my Self wholly right and accepted in God, through this direct awareness.
10 It is through my knowing Christ, directly through experience, for my Self, that I may know in my Self the ultimate power of this resurrection—which is to commune together in those same sufferings, that same loss of all things, and so be formed to Christ through that same ego death,
11 so that I may attain that same resurrection, a rising again after dying within.
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Bryce,
Are you familiar with Foundation for Inner Peace, publishers of A Course In Miracles? Also, I’m curious to know more of your experience stepping back from a the Church. I’ve tried to stay positive about my membership, but lately the only positive element is the sacrament and perhaps singing the hymns. I am paraphrasing from memory, but the well know saying of Jesus that the DSS texts elaborate on (the Gospel of Thomas, IIRC) seems to apply to this “blind guide” malaise: “Heat the truth, after which you’ll be uncomfortable and disbelieving, but then you’ll come to accept this truth and be free from mental constraints” I’m not getting that right but maybe it’s clear. ACIM this week said something like “The Second Coming is when I come to my senses and realize that I am. (A son of god, the Christ )